Bruins 4, Islanders 2: Fourth line keeps dance alive

The TD Garden air was filled with ‘Dougie’ chants by the end of the Bruins’ 4-2 win Friday night over the Islanders, all pointed in the direction of rookie Dougie Hamilton after his first career two-assist game.

The TD Garden air was filled with ‘Dougie’ chants by the end of the Bruins’ 4-2 win Friday night over the Islanders, all pointed in the direction of rookie Dougie Hamilton after his first career two-assist game.

Fans even made their attempts at the dance that’s become synonymous with the defenseman’s first name in the last few years.

For the first 40 minutes, though, it was three players whose names don’t translate to song and dance as easily who kept the Bruins kicking.

In addition to providing the energy and edge that’s become expected of them, the Bruins’ fourth line of Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton also brought a scoring touch.

Thornton scored in the first period and Campbell in the second, keeping the Bruins at 2-2 at the second intermission. Up to that point, the rest of the team was mostly slogging through a rare Friday night home game.

"They allowed us to stay in the game for two periods until we got ourselves going a little bit," coach Claude Julien said.

It was much more than the two goals, however. The backbone of the Bruins stood up when it was needed.

In the opening minutes, the Islanders’ Matt Martin nailed Boston defenseman Dennis Seidenberg — returning from a lower-body injury — along the boards. Seidenberg came out of it OK, but Thornton got in Martin’s face.

Later in the first, Paille floored New York’s Brian Strait with a clean check, and Martin approached Paille at center ice. Martin is not a good matchup in a fight for Paille, and Thornton stepped in. The officials broke it up before they could drop the gloves and Thornton was given a 10-minute misconduct, but the feeling was delivered.

It was all the more impressive considering Thornton said afterward he had the flu and was vomiting all day.

"Everybody is used to seeing that from Thorty," Campbell said of the pugnacious winger’s play. "He’s got a tough job and everyone in here respects him tremendously. I think that goes without saying on this team, to have everyone’s backs. It was a clean hit (by Paille), but I guess team toughness is an important part of a hockey team nowadays."

Both the goals from the fourth line came as a result of players crashing the net. Thornton’s goal — just his 27th in 375 career games with the Bruins — was a rebound of Hamilton’s strong wrister. Campbell knocked in a shot that went to him off New York defenseman Joe Finley’s skate.

"That’s great from them," Patrice Bergeron said. "That’s huge, we’ve always said they give us some momentum on the ice with great plays, but tonight with great goals. It was a perfect example of that."

Page 2 of 2 - In the third period, the rest of the team caught up to the fourth line.

Zdeno Chara scored the winning goal at 7:07 of the third period. With the Bruins having possession in the right corner, Chara jumped up between the circles and took a pass from Milan Lucic. With David Krejci screening Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro in front, he sniped one to the top left corner for his first goal of the year.

Then Hamilton had perhaps the first moment that opened the Bruins’ fans eyes to why he was the No. 9 pick two years ago. Deep in his own zone, Hamilton fired an outlet pass to Brad Marchand in stride. Marchand quickly relayed it to Bergeron, who made a pretty inside-out move for a forehand finish.

"I think that’s why our guys drafted him because they saw a lot of the things we’re seeing now," Julien said. "We liked his size, we liked the way he moved on the ice. But at the same time, he sees the ice well, the passing lanes."

Johnny Boychuk — who was hobbled by a Kyle Okposo shot on his right foot, but said afterwards he was OK — joked Hamilton will have to do the ‘Dougie’ when he scores a goal.

New York’s two goals came from Waltham’s Keith Aucoin.

DiPietro, who’s only matched the zeroes in his games played column with the zeroes in his bank account, got his first start of the season. The Winthrop native and former Boston University star made 23 saves.

Dan Cagen can be reached at 508-626-3848 or dcagen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanCagen.